For nearly four years I’ve been plugging away at this blog. I’ve covered a spectrum of topics from parenting to LEGO to life as an expat. Some posts do better than others. Some folks come for different reasons. Usually I follow a loose, self-imposed ‘rotation’ in terms of topics. Until recently….

If you’ve been with me for a while, you’ll surely have noticed that for the past two months, the majority of my posts have been political in nature. Where I can, I’ve tried to find the humour in there, but I’m not going to lie…it’s hard out there for a gal. I’ve been posting more frequently, but the topics have been less varied.

I’ve spent the last week or so trying to figure out why. I mean, obviously the outcome of the U.S. election is important, not just to me, but to a lot of people. But really, what does one lone blogger sitting with a lap top on a couch with a sink-hole going to do about the outcome? And yet something keeps compelling me to write–perhaps it is merely to make sense of the craziness for myself.

Writing is like bread and butter to me. It’s both the way I sustain myself intellectually, but it’s also a luxury. And it’s the height of vanity to push my own ideas and ideals on anyone who happens to come across the page. Yet I keep doing it.

If nothing else, the last four years of regular blogging has taught me to trust my gut, and to trust my heart. To go on the page where my fingers take me. Right now, that is trying to untangle my own identity with that of my country, with that of myself as a woman, wife, mother. There’s been a lot of rage. There’s been a fair bit of swearing. There’s been a lot of angry keyboard sounds emanating from my sink hole couch.

I know I will get back to the regularly scheduled posting. The kids will go back to school and the middle school drama and life with boys will take over. New observations of a broad abroad will take precedence and my heart will once again slow down. I’ll walk away with a new sense of myself, of my country, and of how the two work together.

So, if you’re an expat follower, don’t give up on me. If you’ve come around to commiserate about finding LEGOs in the fold of your front loading washer, those posts will be back too. Normal programming will eventually resume…I mean, November’s not that far away, right?

Stick with your gut! I get it, even though I don’t write about it. A local friend (in China) reflected after a recent Trump “discussion” that I’m normally such a nice, calm person and he was surprised by my passion (anger). Some things are worth getting worked up about (though getting a little separation from it all is one great expat benefit). Your political and social issues posts are typically my favorites.

Thank you, thank you. First of all, it’s just nice to know I’m not alone. And secondly, it makes it worth while if someone else can relate. I know I get a lot of feedback from people who relate to the parenting or the expat stuff, but it’s nice to hear that the social issue stuff hits home too.

It’s a natural reaction to the insanity surrounding us. My Facebook page is a war zone and I’d rather engage the nut jobs than unfriend them…there is probably a mental illness explanation for my belief that people can think rationally.

Ugh. I’ve had to hide a few people. I’m sure there are a few who have unfriended me. I’ve got from polite discourse to full out giving no fucks. Which, when you look at it, is just as bad. I just said to my husband earlier there are a lot of dumb ass people. I’m not talking about people who believe differently than me. I mean just DUMB.

Thanks. I fear I’ve become a bit…well, obsessed. I’m also viewing the entire things through a massively feminist filter which is not helping my anxiety levels. I am, as I said to someone recently, truly understanding how radicalisation can work (and sorry about my spellcheck–it’s somehow stuck on UK Eng and it’s driving me crazy). Marginalise some folks…chip away here, chip away there, tell them they don’t know what they’re talking about, bit of gas lighting thrown in, and then all of a sudden, you feel like you have no choice but to join some radical organisation! Ok. A slight exaggeration. But only slight. There’s a massive elephant in the room. And it’s too big to shift on my own.

Believe it or not, what I worry about most is losing my ability to think logically about more than one side. I used to be able to celebrate differences. But right now, I’m having a really hard time with those shades of grey.

THIS IS US… a colorful, collaborative, collection of truth-tellers, soul-sharers, magic makers and game shakers. All that have a unique story to tell, angle to take and position they stand strongly behind.